Kenneth Smith was executed using nitrogen gas, the first time that method has been used in the US.
Alabama executed a convicted murderer with nitrogen gas on Thursday, putting him to death with a first-of-its-kind method that once again put the US at the forefront of the debate over capital punishment.
The state said the method would be humane, but critics called it cruel and experimental.
Officials said 58-year-old Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. at an Alabama prison after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation.
It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982.
The execution took about 22 minutes, and Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes.
For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints.
That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing, until breathing was no longer perceptible.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said afterward that the execution was justice for the murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett in 1988.
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